Friday, November 4, 2016

Interview with Young Author Rosalie Chiang

Rosalie Chiang is a talented young writer with two stories featured in Dancing With The Pen II. On top of that, she has recently published her own book, A is for Albatross: Birds A to Z. This beautifully written and illustrated collection of poetry is as fun as it is informative. Children of all ages -- and adults, too! -- will love this book. You can order it on Amazon here. Read on for Rosalie's thoughts about reading, finding inspiration, and the writing process!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Rosalie Chiang. I am ten years old, in sixth grade, and I live in Fremont, California.
I love reading, gardening, cooking, and of course writing poetry. I am homeschooled and have won 2nd place once and 3rd place twice in two national level poetry contests for homeschoolers.

Describe your book and how you got the idea to create it. Take us through your writing process.

Last year, I got an idea of finding birds for each letter of the alphabet. I wrote a quatrain with a rhyme scheme of AABB for each bird, plus a short paragraph about it. Then my dad drew each bird and I painted them. Finally we put them all together and published it on Amazon.com. The whole process took about a year.Have you been writing for a long time? What do you like about writing?

I have been writing since I was five. I especially enjoy writing poetry that rhymes! I also like writing stories because it lets your imagination flow.

Do you have any advice for other writers, or for other young people going after their dreams?

Write about what you enjoy.

Can you share a few of your favorite books or authors?

I generally like classics. Some of my favorite books are C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Roald Dahl’s The BFG. My favorite poets are Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. They are fun to read and listen to. I also like Shakespeare.

What inspires you?

I love animals and nature. I enjoy doing things with my hands like cooking, planting and science experiments. My parents give me many opportunities to try anything I desire.